MANCHESTER, England -- Brian Dougherty wore the American flag like a cape,
flying from teammate to teammate for some new bit of smack
talk.

“That’s how you retire,” he said.

It’s hard to imagine lacrosse without Dougherty, the
portly, loud-mouthed, bald 36-year old who will go down as one of
the best goalkeepers the sport has ever seen. Doc made 15 saves
Saturday to lead the U.S. national team to a 12-10 victory over
Canada in the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World
Championship final at the University of Manchester.

No two were bigger than when Team USA trailed 9-8 with less than 17
minutes remaining and Canada was man-up. He denied Kevin Huntley
high, the rebound got muffed and then he lunged left to save Kevin
Crowley’s putback with his left knee.

“Huntley had a time and space shot from 10 yards that was
pretty hard. I had a feeling he was going to shoot it high, so I
got it at the last second, popped it up in the air,”
Dougherty said afterward. “Then I just remember chaos, with
Kevin Cassese picking it up and throwing it to me. It got tipped
and I saw one of these big Canadians get it out of there. I
don’t really know what happened. I just saw the ball and I
used my cat-like reflexes to do whatever I could to get an arm,
shoulder, leg, a stick, anything I could on it.”

Dougherty spoke the words “cat-like reflexes” with his
trademark, tongue-in-cheek grin. Those saves, however, were the
catalyst for the U.S. in its comeback executed chiefly by Ned
Crotty.

They were also the final highlights of a long, storied and surefire
Hall of Fame career. Doc has already retired from professional
lacrosse, and had said this Team USA stint would be his last with
any team.

“Wearing this [flag] on my back, you know, it’s for my
country. It’s something that they had that we needed to get
back,” said Dougherty, referring to Canada’s win over
the U.S in the gold medal game four years ago. “Put all that
together with it being my last game, there’s a lot of stuff
going on here.”

Dougherty dueled with Chris Sanderson, the Canadian goalie who has
served as the team’s inspiration since returning from brain
surgery two years ago and undergoing monthly chemotherapy
treatments for cancer. Their careers overlapped with ACC rivals
Maryland and Virginia, respectively.

“He’s my nemesis,” Dougherty said.

Sanderson was almost as good as Dougherty, finishing with 10 saves
Saturday. Doc was just better – atoning for a mediocre
performance in the preliminary game the week before, which Canada
won 10-9.

“The Doctor. He had some incredible saves today. He brings
some incredible energy,” said U.S. team attackman Ryan Boyle,
a former teammate of Dougherty’s with the Philadelphia
Barrage. “”I don’t think people give him enough
credit for being the leader he is on and off the field, in the
huddles. It felt good being back on his side, certainly.”